Erling Haaland opens to Real Madrid move, says father

Manchester City striker Erling Haaland’s father confirmed to El Chiringuito that his son could one day move to Real Madrid.

The former City and Leeds United player made his comments from FIFA’s The Best ceremony on Monday, where Erling finished runner-up to Lionel Messi for the Men’s Player 2023 award.

Winning the treble at the Etihad last term, Haaland was level with Messi on 48 points in the vote while another Real Madrid target in Kylian Mbappe ran out third on 35 points.

But it was the amount of captains that voted for the Argentine, 13, that meant he prevented Haaland from scooping the gong as only 11 skippers thought he was the best male player on the planet.

Alfe-Inge Haaland was hounded by El Chiringuito’s Marcos Bento at the award ceremony in London.

He was asked what he thought of Messi beating his son though they had the same amount of points, answering: “Congratulations to Messi”.

Haaland senior then said it was “very good” the two players had tied, but “no problem” that Messi had come out on top through what has been deemed by many to be controversial criteria across social media.

El Chiringuito then put it to Alfe-Inge whether his son could play for Real Madrid in the future.

“Of course. There’s also a possibility to play for everyone,” the Norwegian responded with a laugh.

When pushed to reveal if he “wants that his son wants” to sign for Los Blancos, Haaland senior said: “He’s very happy at City at the moment, so I think we concentrate about that.”

Alfe-Inge similarly refused to confirm if there is a release clause in Erling’s City contract which according to AS allows Madrid or another Spanish giant such as FC Barcelona to sign him for $109 million (€100 million) and not the previously reported $218 million (€200 million).

“I don’t think we should talk about [the] contract now,” Alfe-Inge suggested with a smile, trying to walk off and then doing so with a laugh when then probed on the true price of the 23-year-old.

These comments probably won’t please City fans. At the same time, though, they could give hope to supporters of the two behemoths in El Clasico that Haaland plying his trade in La Liga can become a reality in the coming seasons.